Trumpeter Swans

I headed out to Cooley Lake today to see if I could find the swans my friend Phil Jeffries photographed the other day...sure enough, I did, but couldn't get really close. It was cold and very windy, so I sat in my car to sketch these huge birds...

This is the view from my Jeep "studio."  If you look close you can see the swans out there in the mudflats.

I couldn't see that well, even with my little binoculars, but this was my start, with my old rehabbed Winsor & Newton sketch kit.

A bit further along, working in cramped--but warmer!--conditions.

I managed to get some decent shots with my new Canon, which is what I used to work from  on the right hand page of this spread.  Even with the binoculars I really couldn't see much.  The camera did a much better job!

I'm glad Phil got such a great photo of the immature swan...if it had been younger, the beak would have retained some pink color, so it much have been almost fully grown.

Thank you, Phil Jeffries, for sharing this wonderful photo...Phil's photographs are often in Missouri Department of Conservation publications.

Trumpeters are returning to their historic territories, from the brink of extinction...they were very rare only a few years ago.